


Snowballs and Saunas and Spooks, Oh My!

by Laparoscopic



Category: El Goonish Shive
Genre: Cat, Fluff, Non-Explicit Nudity, Nudism, Sauna, Snow, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-08 02:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19098151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laparoscopic/pseuds/Laparoscopic
Summary: A blizzard hits Moperville, and the gang hunkers down.





	Snowballs and Saunas and Spooks, Oh My!

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was bored a few months ago and wanted to do something new. I asked Zee McZed for an idea or prompt, and he said, "Sauna." Thanks, Zee! & Thanks for beta-reading & suggestions.

Susan hunched forward over the steering wheel of her car, trying to keep her shoulders down as the car crawled slowly forward through the blinding snow. _Just relax_ , she reminded herself. _The more tense I am, the worse my reaction time will be if anything bad happens._ Easier said than done. The whole process of driving in a blizzard generated tension. She tried not to flinch as another car sped past her on her left, at the shockingly reckless speed of fifty miles an hour or so. She’d long since given up on counting the number of cars she’d seen in ditches, or just pulled off to the side of the highway for safety.

She was vaguely aware of Sarah, Grace, and Tedd being silently tense in the back seat, thankfully not distracting her. Justin was riding shotgun, and from the brief glimpses Susan had caught of him while checking her sideview mirror, he looked just as tense as Susan was.

“We should get off the road,” Justin said quietly.

Susan nodded. “Agreed. But if we can make it to the next exit, we’ll be just a half mile from my house.”

“We will? Oh. Good. I didn’t realize we were this close to Moperville.”

“Yeah.” Susan flicked a glance in her rear view mirror at the trio in back. She raised her voice. “We almost made it, but I think we should stop there. I can put you all up for the night.”

“Thank you,” said Grace.

“Sounds good,” said Tedd.

“Should I call the other car, and let them know?” Sarah asked.

Susan nodded. “Yeah. I’d rather we all be crowded in together at my place than risk them killing themselves.”

Justin snorted. “I don’t think we’re in danger of crowding at your place.”

Susan didn’t spare the mental energy for a response, her focus being on keeping them all alive. She half-listened to Sarah calling Ellen in Elliot’s car behind them.

The car behind them flashed its brights at them as Sarah hung up and said, “Elliot will follow you.”

“Good.”

Fifteen nerve-wracking minutes later, Susan finally pulled off the highway, and headed towards home. The city streets were in even worse shape than the highway, and despite her meticulously careful driving, she twice found herself sliding through intersections. Fortunately, there was almost nobody else on the road, so sliding through stop signs and red lights was without consequence, except to her already frayed nerves.

When they turned off the main drag onto her street, they finally ground to a halt. The minor residential streets hadn’t been plowed at all, and forward motion for anything less than a Hummer was probably out of the question. Two hundred yards from home, she pulled over to the side of the street and put the car into park. Her shoulders dropped, and she exhaled in relief to not be moving. “That’s it. I don’t think we’re going any further, unless some random superhero feels like pushing us the rest of the way.”

Grace laughed. “Elliot and I probably could, but I think it would be easier—and more discreet—to just walk to your house.”

“Agreed.”

“Thanks for getting us here safely,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Tedd echoed. “I’m glad I wasn’t driving in this mess.”

Elliot pulled in behind them, his car sliding to within a few inches of Susan’s bumper. “Jeez, cutting it tight there, Elliot,” grumbled Justin, watching in the mirror.

Everyone pulled on gloves and hats and zipped up coats. “Everybody ready for the final push?” Susan asked. Receiving a chorus of affirmatives, she shut off the engine. As soon as the heater was off, the cold started creeping in. “Let’s go. We’re not going to get any warmer sitting here.”

Everyone shoved their doors open, fighting against the snow piled up against the sides of the car. Grace opened her door with ease, not seeming to noticing the extra resistance, and she got out to help Susan open her door. With the cars’ headlights off, it was dim, the dense clouds and snow absorbing the last vestiges of the gloaming light.

“Thanks,” Susan said, and she turned to look at the car behind them. Elliot, Ashley, Nanase, and Ellen were all piling out of his car too.

“We almost made it!” Elliot called to them.

“Glad you live on this edge of town,” Nanase said.

Susan grinned. Her relief at getting home without accident combined with her release of tension from not being behind the wheel any more, making her feel almost giddy. “Me too.”

Tedd gave up on trying to open his car door, and slid across the seat to get out on Grace’s side, following Sarah. Susan waved her arm in a “Forward!” gesture. “Come on, we’re almost there.” She set off trudging down the street, trusting the others to fall in behind her. She couldn’t even see the houses by the sides of the road through the falling snow, and she hoped that enough of her mailbox would be visible when they got to her house for her to know when to turn in.

They had almost gotten to her house when something went _thwap!_ against the back of Susan’s jacket, startling a shout from her. “What the _hell?”_ She turned to look at the group behind her.

Everyone was looking at Elliot, who looked sheepish. “Sorry! I was aiming for Justin.”

“Hey! What’d I ever do to you?” asked Justin. Even as he was speaking, he was swiping a handful of snow off the roof of a car parked next to him, and he flung it back at Elliot.

Unfortunately, his aim was about as good as Elliot’s, and Ellen received the brunt of the fluffy cold missile. “Oh, _now_ you’ve done it,” Ellen growled with a grin as she wiped snow from her face. She bent to the ground to gather up her own snowball.

Susan was startled to see that the third launch in the snowball offensive came from Ashley, of all people, pegging Grace square in the middle of her chest. Then she lost track of who was throwing what at who, as suddenly the air was filled with flying snowballs, in a freezing free-for-all. Susan found herself laughing and gasping as snow slid down her back, but that didn’t keep her from throwing a snowball in the general direction of Elliot, which ended up hitting Nanase instead. Nanase flew—literally—over Susan and dropped a double handful of snow directly on her head.

“Hey! Powers are cheating!” Susan spluttered.

“Sez who?” came the familiar voice of Cheerleadra, and she flew by and dumped an even larger arm-load of snow onto Nanase. Nanase fell from the air with a soft _whump_ into a snowdrift, pawing at her face, trying to clear her eyes. Grace, in her Shade Tail form, leapt over Nanase and tackled Ellen into another snowdrift, accompanied by shrieks and laughter. Susan hesitated a second, considered the poor visibility due to the falling snow, then she summoned Little Suze to her. The diminutive fairy doll grabbed two tiny hands full of snow, and flew up behind Sarah to shove them down the neck of her jacket. Sarah yelped and whirled around, accidentally pushing Tedd into a snowdrift as she did so.

The anarchic snowball fight lasted for only a few more minutes before everyone was collapsed in the snow laughing and gasping for breath.She saw Elliot shift back to his normal form, and he immediately started shivering. “Gah! One advantage to Cheerleadra is being invulnerable to c-c-cold,” he said. He stood up and swiped at the back of his neck, trying to get rid of the snow there.

“You’d have to be, with that outfit,” said Sarah with a grin.

Susan pulled herself to her feet, still grinning. She was amazed that the brief exertion had actually warmed her a little. “Come on, let’s get inside before we turn into popsicles.”

Before they even got to the house, Susan resigned herself to having to mop the floors. There was just no way to get all these walking snowmen into the house without making a mess, and she wasn’t going to let her desire for cleanliness make her ask her friends to disrobe in the garage. Then another thought occurred to her. She shifted directions away from the front door to head toward the back of the house. “Hey, follow me,” she called out. “We can go in by the pool room in the back and head straight to the sauna.”

“Did she say sauna?” Ashley asked.

“I think so?” Tedd replied dubiously.

“Yeah, there’s a sauna,” Sarah confirmed.

They half-walked, half-slid down the hill to the back of the house, where the walk-out basement lead to a deck by a snow-filled swimming pool. Susan unlocked and opened the door to the pool room, and sighed at the feeling of the warm air on her skin as she stepped in. She knew the room wasn’t any warmer than usual, but the contrast on her snow-chilled cheeks made it feel like an oven. She was startled by the beeping of the house alarm system, and she hurriedly tapped the code into the keypad by the door to disarm it. _Huh. Mother must not be home._

Everyone shuffled in behind her, and Elliot closed the door as the last one in. Susan pointed to the changing room door. “There are towels in the closet in there. Strip and wrap up in a towel, and we can shove our clothes in the dryer while we thaw in the sauna.”

“ _Strip?”_ squeaked Tedd.

“Are you telling me you’re not soaked through?” Susan asked. The snow had been ideal for making snowballs, which meant it had been pretty wet. “You can wrap a towel around you. That’s the most you’d normally wear in a sauna anyway.”

Most of the group was staring at her slightly agog, save Sarah, the only other person who’d ever been in the sauna. “Since Elliot and Justin are the only males here at the moment,” noted Sarah. “They should change first.”

“What about—oh. Never mind,” said Ellen, glancing at Tedd.

“Uh…” Nanase and Tedd were exchanging dubious looks, then Tedd’s form shimmered and shifted, taking on a slightly more masculine aspect.

“Never mind,” said Tedd. “I’ll change with Elliot and Justin.”

“There’s a laundry basket in there, just dump your wet clothes in there and I’ll put them all in the dryer.” Susan peeled off her coat, and draped it over a deck chair stored in the pool room for the winter. Everyone’s hats, gloves and scarves joined their coats, draped over the chairs. Melting snow dripped on the tile floor, but since the room was designed for wet people, it didn’t bother Susan. She had a moment of feeling smugly proud of the idea to come in this way, minimizing the mess while also giving them a way to warm up.

She made a shooing motion at the trio of guys. “Go, change, I’ll make sure the sauna is turned up,” she said. She walked a few steps down the hall to the sauna. She opened the sauna door and glanced at the thermometers on the wall—it looked and felt perfect. She smiled, reveling in the warmth flowing out at her, appreciating the scent of cedar that came with the warm air.

“Do you normally leave it on all the time?” Sarah asked from behind her.

Susan shook her head as she closed the door and turned around. “No, but before we hit the road this afternoon I turned it up. I was planning on using it when I got home, even before the snowball fight.”

“You turned it up this afternoon?”

Susan held up her phone. “It’s wifi enabled. There’s an app for that.”

Sarah snorted. “Of course there is.”

“Speaking of phones…” She went back to the pool room. “Has everyone let their families know they’re all right, and spending the night here?”

“Yep.”

“Of course.”

“First thing.”

“Oops,” said Ashley. She blushed and pulled out her phone, and sent a quick text. A couple of seconds after she sent it, her phone rang. She sighed. “Well, I _tried_ …” she muttered under her breath, then answered the phone with a bright, “Hi, Daddy!”

Susan sent her mother a text, _I’m home. Where are you? Are you okay?_

A moment later, her mother responded, _Stranded at work by the snow. Got a room at the Marriott down the street for the night. Thank you for letting me know you made it home safely. I’ve been worried._

_Sorry, we were fine, we just took it slow. Going to take a sauna now, to warm up from the snow. Hope to see you tomorrow._

_Me too. Sweet dreams, angel._

Susan wondered briefly if she should have mentioned that all of her friends were staying over, but she decided that it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if they could go anywhere else, and even her mother wouldn’t toss the men out on a night like this.

Susan looked up at the sound of the changing room door opening. The three guys stepped out, each with a large colorful beach towel wrapped around his waist. She stifled a giggle as she said to Elliot, “The pink hibiscuses look fetching on you.”

He grinned back. “Well, Tedd wanted the purple ones, and Justin wanted the surfer dude pattern.”

Susan tried not to stare at Elliot’s chest. As she tore her gaze away from him, her eye was caught by Justin’s equally impressive physique. Her attention skittered away from him quickly, to settle on Tedd, who was at least a more familiar sight. Still attractive, but not in such a blatantly beefcakey way. Fortunately, her face was already flushed red from the cold. She smiled at Tedd, and gestured toward the sauna room door. “You guys want to get started on warming up while we change?”

“I guess,” said Tedd, sounding a little dubious. “How hot is it, actually?”

“Well, heat rises, so it’s warmer on the higher benches. It’s just a hundred at the bottom. Start on a lower bench and work your way up as you feel comfortable.” She suddenly remembered hydration, and pulled open the door to a small bar fridge built into the wall next to the sauna. “Grab a bottle of water, and keep hydrated. Come out if you feel dizzy.”

“Cool,” said Elliot.

“Or rather, not cool,” said Justin drily. He pulled open the door, and gasped, “Oh, man, that feels good.” He stepped into the sauna, and turned and grinned out at the others. “Perfect for an after-snowball warmup.”

Susan tossed him the bottle of water, which he snagged out of the air. “Keep drinking,” she admonished. “We’ll join you in a minute.”

“Sounds good.”

The three guys disappeared into the sauna, and Susan turned back to the pool room. She glanced at the crowd—six women, and the changing room was really only meant for a couple of people at a time. She closed the door to the hall, shutting off the view from the sauna, and said, “Sarah, if you could just pass out some towels from the closet, some of us can change out here.”

“Sure.” Sarah pulled a large stack of colorful towels out of the changing room.

“Ah, what about the sliding glass doors?” asked Nanase.

“What about them?”

“You’re willing to strip in front of a huge glass door?”

Susan snorted, and pulled her shirt off over her head. “A, there’s a fence in the back yard, no one could see in here anyway. And b, there’s a blizzard going on. Someone would have to be standing in a snowdrift five feet from the door to see anything.”

“Oh. True.” Nanase shrugged and began peeling off her clothes too.

Susan wasn’t at all surprised that Grace was already naked. She seemed to have some supernatural ability to shed her clothes in an instant. Ashley wasn’t far behind her, which fit in with some things she’d observed about the green-hair girl. Susan suspected that Ashley had a bit of an exhibitionistic streak.

Everyone undressed in short order, plopping damp clothes into the laundry hamper. Susan shivered briefly, damp and naked, before wrapping a towel with a picture of the _USS Enterprise_ on it around her.

Once everyone was undressed and wrapped in a towel, Susan picked up the laundry hamper with a small grunt. The water made the clothes heavier than she’d expected.

“Here, let me help,” said Grace, and she took one side of the hamper. “Where are we taking it?” Grace’s towel had a picture of Elsa from _Frozen_ , a towel accidentally left behind by one of Susan’s younger cousins last summer.

Susan pointed at the door, which Sarah had just opened. “Just down the hall, past the sauna on the left.”

“Okay.”

Grace helped her toss clothes into the dryer, much to her relief. If Grace noticed that Susan left the underwear to her, she kindly didn’t say anything. They separated out the bras to run on a second, gentler cycle, not wanting to damage the more delicate lingerie. Only five bras, Susan noted—who was going without?

“Thanks. We should have dry clothes in less than an hour,” said Susan. “Now let’s go get warm.”

“Gladly,” said Grace.

When they got back to the sauna, Grace opened the door and sneezed. “My! That’s a strong smell of cedar.” She closed the door and shook her head.

“Yeah, will you be okay with it?” Susan had forgotten about Grace’s supernaturally acute sense of smell.

“Just a moment…” Grace closed her eyes, looking thoughtful. There was a brief shimmer of magic around her face before she opened them again. “There. I’ve just dialed down my sense of smell a bit.”

Susan was impressed. “I didn’t know you had that fine of control over your shapeshifting.”

Grace shrugged. “I’ve been practicing. Wow, this is cozy,” she said as she opened the door again.

“What? Oh.” Susan looked into the sauna, and realized her mistake. It was a small home sauna, meant for a half dozen people at most. With seven already in there, it was, as Grace said, cozy.

“I like the heat,” said Grace, “I’ll take that last top seat.” She clambered up on the higher bench, and slipped in next to Justin.

“Scoot over, guys,” said Sarah to the others on the lower bench. She slid away from the door, leaving a spot between her and the wall for Susan. Susan smiled gratefully at her. She could, just barely, manage to tolerate being snuggled up against Sarah of all people. Creating a spot for her next to the wall was a kindness. Grace was sitting above and behind her, and Susan was almost as comfortable with Grace as she was with Sarah.

As Susan squeezed in between Sarah and the wall, Grace asked, “Why do you all still have your towels on? I thought saunas were usually done in the nude?”

The others laughed at this quintessentially Grace question. “Well, yeah, in Scandinavian—” Elliot began, but Grace cut him off.

“Oh, good.” Susan heard a rustle of fabric behind her, and didn’t have to look behind her to know that Grace was peeling off her towel.

“Keep the towel for sitting on,” requested Susan. “To, uh, soak up your sweat. Where you’re sitting.”

“Okay,” agreed Grace cheerfully.

“Well, when in Rome,” said Ashley, and she unknotted her towel and let it drop open. “Or Sweden.”

“Ashley!” protested Elliot. “We’re not _in_ Sweden!”

“What? You don’t like my body?” she asked teasingly.

Susan looked up and over at Elliot—she was pretty sure his red face wasn’t solely due to the heat.

“That’s not…I mean…you’re…” He shook his head. “Oh, never mind,” he said, sounding resigned.

“Smart boy,” said Ashley.

“Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud, bro,” said Ellen, as she opened her towel and let it fall to the bench.

“Ellen!” squawked Elliot. Susan, Sarah, and Grace all giggled at his response.

“What? It’s not like you’ve never seen my tits before.”

“Yeah, but what about everyone else?”

“Eh. You’ll see all their tits eventually too, I suspect.”

“That’s _not_ what I meant,” spluttered Elliot over more laughter.

Susan heard Sarah mutter, “I really _want_ to do this, I don’t want to be so damn shy…but…”

“Together, on the count of three?” Susan suggested, sotto voce.

Sarah hesitated, then locked eyes with her and nodded. “Okay. One, two…three.”

Sarah and Susan let their towels drop to their sides too, and Susan relaxed a little. The sauna was a place where she was used to being nude. It felt right, even with so many other people here. Without the cloth in the way, the heat of the sauna soaked into her more immediately.

Justin sighed. “I’m surrounded by a half-dozen beautiful naked bodies, and of _course_ they’re all female.”

“Beautiful?” asked Tedd, sounding startled.

Justin glowered at Tedd. “Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean that I’m blind to female beauty. Everyone here is gorgeous.”

“No argument here,” said Tedd. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…uh, sorry.”

Justin shrugged, looking slightly mollified. “It’s all right.”

Susan looked around the hot room, sweat beading on her face, and was surprised to see Nanase was naked too. She felt a brief pang of envy for her impressive physique, and outrageously perky large breasts. The only people with towels still draped across their laps were the guys.

“So, Tedd, why are you still wrapped up?” asked Grace teasingly.

“Uh…” Tedd squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t answer, his hands folded defensively in his lap.

“Yeah, Elliot, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” said Ashley, as she reached up to the bench above and behind her to tug on her boyfriend’s towel.

“Hey! Stop it!”

Ashley didn’t persist in the face of Elliot’s protest, but she did deploy the puppy-dog eyes.

“Would you all like some steam?” asked Susan, trying to rescue Elliot from his girlfriend.

Most of the people made various sounds of assent, so Susan stood up and got a scoop of water out of the bucket next to the heater. She carefully poured it onto the hot rocks, and sighed as the cloud of steam washed over her body.

As she sat back down on her towel, she said, “I get the impression most of you are sauna newbies, so you shouldn’t stay in here more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. And of course, get out earlier if you’re feeling dizzy.” She glanced around the room, and noticed Nanase was leaning back against the wall with her eyes shut. “Nanase? You haven’t passed out on us, have you?”

“Hmm?” Nanase opened her eyes and smiled. “No, I was just enjoying the heat.”

“Ah. Good.”

Tedd stood up. “Excuse me. I think I should get out now.”

“Are you okay, sweetie?” asked Grace. Sarah put a hand on his arm as he walked past her.

Tedd gave an embarrassed smile. “Yeah, it’s just a bit too hot for comfort in here.”

Sarah managed to wait until after he’d left to snicker, “I wonder if it was the _temperature_ that was too hot for him?” Ellen and Ashley chuckled too.

Susan stood up and wrapped her towel around her. “I’d better check on him,” she said, feeling some responsibility for him. She exited the sauna to find him leaning against the wall next to the fridge. He opened his eyes at the sound of the sauna door closing, and smiled weakly at her.

Susan opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. She twisted the cap off and passed it to him. “Here. Drink. It’ll help.”

“Thanks. Sorry to be such a wimp.” He took a long drink.

“You’re _not_ a wimp. Some people just don’t enjoy a sauna.”

He shrugged. “It was nice for taking the chill off, but not for much longer.”

“If you’re feeling overheated, use the shower in the changing room to cool off.” Then she grinned. “Or, you can jump into a snow drift.”

Tedd laughed. “Say _what?_ I don’t think so.”

“No, really, when you’re a bit overheated, the snow feels nice for a minute or two as it melts against your skin. Then you go back inside and sit in the sauna for a minute just to take the edge off, and you’re done.” The more she thought about it, the more it appealed to her. “And like I said earlier, the snow is so thick, and we have a tall fence in back, no one would see us anyway.”

Tedd shook his head, grinning. “I can’t believe _you_ of all people are suggesting we all troop into your back yard stark naked to jump into the snow.”

Susan shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed, but not very. “It’s nice. Admittedly I’ve always worn a swimsuit when I’ve done it in the past, but the conditions tonight are ideal. And we don’t often have this kind of perfect opportunity. There’s got to be at least a yard of fresh snowfall out there to roll around in.”

The sauna door opened and Grace stuck her head out, steam billowing around her as she did. “Is someone out here talking about jumping naked into snowdrifts?” She wasn’t wearing her towel, Susan noted without surprise.

Tedd hooked a thumb at Susan. “Yeah, she is, believe it or not.”

“That sounds wonderful!”

Susan and Tedd laughed. “Have at it,” Susan said, and Grace scampered down the hall. Her bouncing buns were…not unpleasant to watch, Susan admitted to herself. She glanced guiltily at Tedd, hoping he hadn’t noticed her admiration, but he was busy smiling fondly at the same view. They followed Grace, and watched as she slid open the door and plopped down on her back in the nearest snow drift.

Grace laughed in delight. “This is wonderful!” The white fluffy snow clung to her body and melted off in little rivulets of water. The contrast of the white snow against Grace’s dark skin was quite lovely, Susan thought.

“Yeah, but you have an almost supernatural resistance to cold,” called out Tedd. “Although…I have to admit, standing in the open doorway like this actually feels kind of good,” he said more quietly to Susan.

“It’s not just her,” Susan reassured him. “It’s like that for almost everyone. Though I want to heat up a bit more before doing the same myself.”

“You’re seriously going to do it too?” asked Tedd.

“Yup. I enjoy it.” She chuckled. “And I’ve never taken the chance to do it nude.”

“Wow, she really did it,” said Justin’s voice behind her. Susan turned around to see him staring out at Grace too. Justin grinned. “Banzai!” He tossed his towel to the side onto a deck chair, and ran outside and jumped into the snow. He had an amazingly tight ass, Susan couldn’t help but notice as he passed. Justin whooped and laughed as he disappeared almost completely into a deep drift, then he surfaced and danced around, shaking the worst of the snow off. Susan tried not to stare at his jiggling…anatomy…as he shook. Then he squawked as Grace threw a snowball at him, catching him square in the middle of the chest. He threw a scoop of snow back at her, laughing, then he bolted for the door. “Okay, that’s enough!” Susan kept her gaze on Grace as Justin re-entered the room and grabbed his towel, brushing off snow and still laughing.

“Let me get warmed up a bit more, and I’ll give it a shot, too,” Susan told him, once he’d gotten his towel wrapped around his waist again.

Grace re-entered the room, grinning excitedly. “You’ve _got_ to try this, Teddy! It’s wonderful!”

Tedd laughed. “Maybe. Justin looks like he survived it, and he’s totally human.”

“Mostly,” said, Justin, flames flickering around his hand for a moment before disappearing.

“Yeah, but those flames don’t provide you with any heat, so they don’t matter,” Grace countered.

They all headed back to the sauna, and Susan was startled anew by the sight of all her friends naked. Even Elliot. Apparently Ashley’s puppy-dog eyes had done their work while she was gone. Susan blushed and quickly sat down, putting Elliot out of sight behind her on the higher bench. Sarah gave her a small grin as she squeezed back in between her and the wall.

“So, she really did it?” Ellen asked.

“Yeah, and I did too,” said Justin. “It was fun! I was hot enough that it didn’t bother me at all, for the minute or two I was out there.”

Tedd said, “I came back in here to warm up enough so I could try it.”

“Huh.” Elliot sounded surprised. “Well…if everyone else is doing it…”

“You’d better believe it,” Ashley said. Then she faux-whispered to Elliot, “And besides, just _imagine_ how hard my nipples will get in the snow.”

“ _Ashley!”_

As the resulting laughter died down, Ellen said, “So why do women show _more_ in thecold, and men show _less_?”

“Eh?” said Grace. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, our nipples pop out, and guys’ tackle tries to crawl back up into their abdomens.”

“I was heated up enough from the sauna that that wasn’t really a problem,” Justin said with a laugh.

“True,” confirmed Susan without thinking. Then she winced and closed her eyes against the massed incredulous stares that that single syllable provoked. “Uh, not that I was…you know…checking, or anything.”

“It’s okay, Susan,” said Nanase. “We all know Justin is a gorgeous piece of eye candy.”

Justin snorted. “ _Thank_ you, Nanase. It’s always reassuring to be admired by my lesbian friends.”

“Hey, it’s like you said; just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the view.” She and Justin laughed.

Susan stood up and reached for the water scoop. _Might as well make it literally steamy in here, too,_ she though wryly as she poured more water on the hot rocks.

Conversation drifted to a relaxed, muggy silence, as people melted in the heat. People on the upper and lower benches swapped places, heating up or cooling down as they needed.

After about ten minutes, Susan asked, “Everyone ready?” Receiving assorted noises of assent, she stood and lead them out of the sauna. As she took off her towel and tossed it onto a chair, she glanced at her massed group of friends, all similarly naked. She grinned at the sight, which struck her as more amusing than arousing.

She tugged open the sliding door and dashed out into the blizzard.

Someone shouted, “Yee-haw!” and they all joined her. It was only a few degrees below freezing, and the snow melting on her body felt like a cool rain to her overheated skin. Everyone shouted and dove into snowdrifts and exclaimed and laughed, a replay of their earlier snowball fight, sans the snowballs and the clothing.

Susan peered toward her neighbors’ houses, but, as she’d assured the others, nothing was visible through the snowfall. She could barely see the glow of their lights, let alone any details. She rolled over in a fluffy pile of snow, heedless of how it was messing up her hair, enjoying the cool sting of the flakes against her skin.

Tedd and Sarah were the first to retreat back indoors, with the others shortly following them. Grace brought up the rear, so to speak.

“Good heavens! Put on some clothing!” protested a prissy sounding voice. Susan looked over at one of the pool chairs, where Ashley had left her phone and purse and magic wand. The wand, Kevin, was levitating in place, and somehow contrived to look offended.

Ashley laughed. “We’re just going to be going back into the sauna again.”

Indeed, no one bothered with wrapping their towels back around them as they headed, dripping snowmelt, down the hall to the sauna. Ashley grabbed her wand before joining the procession back to the warmth. Everyone dove back in and sighed in relief at the heat.

“Gah! I’ll open my eyes again once you’re all dressed!” protested Kevin.

“You don’t even _have_ eyes,” protested Ellen, looking bemused.

The wand shuddered. “You had to remind me? I can see _everything!”_

The room erupted into laughter, and Susan felt herself relaxing even more. Everyone’s nudity was just…nudity. Kevin’s silliness notwithstanding, it wasn’t sexual. It was just bodies. Pretty to look at bodies, admittedly, but that was all.

“I think the hardest part about being out there was the feet,” said Ellen. “If it weren’t for them, I could have stayed for another minute or two.”

“Yeah, maybe flip-flops or sandals would make it easier,” agreed Justin, stretching out his feet in front of him to get them closer to the hot rocks.

Susan ran her hands back along the top of her head, pushing the melting snow down and off her long hair. She resigned herself to having to spend a half-hour brushing the tangles out tomorrow, but it had been worth it. Looking around the room, she was pleased to see everyone looking happy, in high spirits.

“Thanks, Susan,” said Nanase. “That was something I’d have _never_ considered doing on my own.”

“Really,” agreed Elliot. “Even in a bathing suit, let alone naked.”

Everyone chatted and laughed about the experience as they warmed back up, and everyone but Tedd took a second run outside. He just stood in the open doorway, cooling off and watching the others playing in the snow. Susan was glad he’d tried it at least once.

As they warmed up again, Ellen asked, “If our clothes are dry, would you mind if we dressed in the TV room? It’d be drier, and warmer.”

“Yeah, the pool room floor is pretty swamped by now,” agreed Sarah.

“Ah…sure,” said Susan. By this point, modesty had pretty much evaporated like water on hot rocks. She got up and headed back to the laundry room, trailed by Sarah. They pulled the now-dry clothes out of the dryer and dumped them into a laundry basket, and carried it down the hall to the TV room.

Ashley was already waiting there, and the others came in behind them. Ashley bent over to pull a shirt out of the basket, and Susan flushed and looked away from the sight of her cute little butt. “Okay, who claims the _Lucky Bunny Bounty Show_ t-shirt?”

“Mine,” said Justin. Ashley tossed it to him, and he pulled it on. Susan bit her lip and turned away. Somehow, seeing him _half_ naked was more embarrassing than fully naked. Especially when the naked half in question was the bottom half.

“Baby blue boxer briefs with red hearts?” asked Ashley with a grin.

“As if you didn’t know,” grumbled a blushing Elliot, pulling them out of her hand.

Ashley continued handing out clothing. When she was about halfway done, Ellen was standing there topless, holding her t-shirt. She peered into the basket and asked, “Aren’t there any bras in this mix?”

“Oops,” said Susan. “Sorry, I was going to do those on a separate, delicates cycle. Let me do that.” She went back to the laundry room and tossed the bras into the dryer. She only realized when she got back to the TV room and everyone else was fully dressed that she was walking around in just her jeans and socks, no shirt. Ashley handed her her shirt, and she quickly pulled it on.

“Well, that was fun,” Sarah said. “But now, I’m starving. Do you think we can pull together enough food to feed nine?”

“Maybe pasta? It’s quick and easy and filling,” suggested Nanase.

“I’m not sure. Let’s see what we’ve got,” Susan said. Since there was normally only herself and her mother, they didn’t tend to keep a very full pantry, but surely they could figure something out.

Sarah and Elliot had spent enough time at her house to know the kitchen, and the three of them lead the way in pulling out supplies for dinner. Tedd shifted back to female and took over the cooking, directing the others in dicing onions and chopping up chicken breasts in lieu of meatballs. In a little over a half an hour, they were all crowding around the small kitchen table, laughing together and sharing out their impromptu meal. Susan was amazed at how well the food came together, even if it was a slightly odd mixture.

“So, where are we all going to sleep tonight?” asked Ellen as they ate.

“Well, I don’t think my mother would mind someone sleeping in her bed, as long as we changed the sheets,” Susan said. “And the guest room can hold—”

She was cut off by the lights suddenly going out. There was a moment of startled silence, then Grace said, “Oh, bother.” The others laughed at that, then suddenly there was a flare of light from Ellen’s hand.

Everyone looked at her, and she grinned. “It’s the simplest spell in my spell book, and it’s probably also the most useful.”

Ashley pulled her wand out of her back pocket and held it up. “Kevin?” she asked, her tone of voice wheedling.

“No,” said the wand flatly. “It’s silly.”

“But we’re _stranded_ in the _dark_.”

The wand sighed, despite having no lungs. “Oh, very well. But you don’t have to say—“

“ _Lumos!”_ said Ashley gleefully, as Kevin lit up like a raver’s light-stick. She propped the wand up in the middle of the table, where it cast a gentle light over everyone.

“I’ll grab some candles for supplemental light,” said Susan, standing up from the table.

“ _Thank_ you,” muttered the wand sulkily.

Nanase pulled up the power company’s web site on her phone, and checked the outage map. “Yikes.” She turned the phone around to show everyone else. It looked like half of the county was without power. “Estimated time to repair, six to twelve hours,” she said.

“Which probably means twelve to twenty-four,” observed Justin.

Susan set some candles and matches on the table. “So, to answer your earlier question, Ellen, I think we should all sleep in the TV room, to conserve heat. Also, if we open up the door to the sauna, that will add a lot of heat to the area.”

“Oh, right, heat,” said Elliot. “I forgot about the furnace.”

“Yeah. Fortunately, it’s not a polar vortex, but it’s still going to get colder. The basement, being underground, is the best insulated area.”

“You might want to leave some faucets running at a trickle, to keep the pipes from freezing,” suggested Justin.

“Thanks, good idea. After we finish eating, let’s head upstairs and grab all the blankets and comforters we can find. And we can also pull out a bunch of my sweatshirts and sweaters.”

Elliot looked down at his broad chest dubiously. “I don’t think I’m going to fit into any of your sweaters,” he said.

“Nor I,” said Nanase.

Susan rolled her eyes. “Just shift to a smaller female form, Elliot.”

“Oh!” He reddened. “Right. I should have thought of that.”

“And anyone else who wants to fit into Susan’s sweaters, I can zap you to a female form of the appropriate size,” offered Tedd. “Or smaller, if you want.”

“Eh…I’ll pass,” said Justin. “Thanks all the same.”

“Aww, but you’re so _cute_ as a girl,” protested Ellen with a grin.

Justin continued to look dubious. “Maybe. We’ll see how cold it gets.”

“It’s too bad our coats are all damp,” said Ashley. “I don’t suppose any of you has a drying spell?” Everyone shook their head. She looked to her wand. “Kevin? Can you teach me something like that?”

“Well…I _could_ , but learning that kind of controlled low-level heating frequently involves accidentally setting a few things on fire at the beginning of the learning process.”

“Okay, maybe not.”

“ _Thank_ you,” said Susan.

“I’ll go toss the coats into the sauna,” said Nanase. “They might dry out before the sauna loses all of its heat.”

“Smart thinking,” said Susan approvingly.

“The stove is gas, so we can still use it to make tea and hot cocoa, to keep us warm,” Sarah said. “We’ll just need to light it with a match, since the electric ignition is kaput.”

“Oh, and maybe use it to make popcorn, too?” asked Grace hopefully.

Dinner finished, they split up into smaller groups, one group cleaning the kitchen as best they could without power, others gathering comforters and blankets and pillows, and others placing damp coats and shoes into the sauna to dry. Susan found more candles tucked away in the formal dining room, and the TV room was well lit and feeling cozy by the time everyone regrouped there. Justin carried down a tray full of mugs of tea and hot cocoa, Grace had several bowls of popcorn, and Sarah had even remembered to bring chopsticks for Susan.

Susan glanced at the thermostat on the wall to check the room’s temperature, then rolled her eyes at herself. It was electronic, and blank. It didn’t yet _feel_ colder in the basement, but she was wondering how long that would last. Well, at least having nine bodies in the room should make it warmer.

Grace was pulling cushions off the couch and spreading blankets on the soft mound in front of the couch. “We should all just cuddle up together under the blankets to keep warm,” she said.

Sarah and Tedd laughed. “This is just your idea of heaven, isn’t it?” asked Sarah.

Grace grinned. “I like to think of it as making the best of a bad situation.”

“And any situation that involves you getting into a cuddle pile with almost everyone you know—” Tedd began.

“Is _definitely_ the best possible situation,” agreed Grace. Her smile was so bright and cheery that Susan restrained herself from pointing out that, since it was her house, she had access to plenty of warm clothing, and hence had no need for “cuddling.” Instead she said, “You’re already nice and furry; do you really _need_ to cuddle for warmth?”

“ _Need_ to?” asked Sarah, laughing.

“No, not really,” admitted Grace. “But _want?_ That’s another issue. And besides, I can help keep everyone else warm, too.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Susan said wryly, but she couldn’t help but smile at Grace’s enthusiasm.

As people settled in, bundling up under blankets even though there was no chill in the air yet, Ashley asked, “So, what should we do to pass the time?”

“Truth or dare?” suggested Ellen with a hopeful hint of a leer.

“No!” chorused several people.

Susan shuddered. “We’ve got no place to escape to if the game goes…terminally embarrassing,” she pointed out.

“Well, yeah, that’s the fun of it,” said Ellen. Susan, Elliot, and Tedd glared her down. “Oh, all right. Spoilsports,” Ellen grumbled.

“Ghost stories?” suggested Nanase.

Grace shivered. “Please, no. Not while the power is out and the house is dark. What about charades?”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” agreed Ashley. “My family plays charades a lot at holidays.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually played it,” Justin said. “Just heard about it or seen it in movies.”

“Okay, that decides it,” Ashley said firmly. “Charades it is.” Then she paused and looked around the room uncertainly. “Um, as long as no one minds?”

Susan glanced around the room, and saw that no one seemed to strenuously object to the idea. “Sounds good,” she assured Ashley.

“Great! Do you have some small pieces of paper and some pens?”

“Sure.” Susan retrieved the asked-for supplies and handed them to Ashley.

Fifteen minutes later, Susan found herself standing in front of all her friends, trying to figure out a way to act out the concept of “With great power comes great responsibility,” when she realized that the group seemed to be staring at her with unnerving unsmiling silence. More specifically, they were staring at something near her feet.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Ah…Susan…” said Nanase hesitantly. “Have you ever owned a cat?”

“ _What?”_ The non-sequitur utterly baffled her. “No. Why?”

“It’s just…” Elliot said slowly. “It looks like…”

“There’s a ghost of a cat behind you,” squeaked Ashley.

Susan stared at her group of friends, wondering if they were pulling her leg, if this was some elaborate joke they’d arranged while she wasn't paying attention. But Ashley looked genuinely freaked, and Tedd was getting up to look closer at whatever had everyone’s attention. So, reluctantly, she turned around to see what everyone else was looking at.

It was a cat. And, given that she could see through it, calling it a ghost didn't seem unreasonable. It didn’t look like a stereotypical ghost—it wasn’t pale, ethereal, and misty. It looked like a fairly normal brightly colored calico cat. Normal except for the fact that it was translucent. If Susan were working on the image in a photo editing program, she would have guessed that the ghost was on a separate layer at about fifty percent opacity.

Well, normal except it was translucent, _and_ it was totally silent, despite looking like it was yowling at the top of its lungs.

“What’s wrong, kitty?” asked Grace, sounding concerned.

The specter padded silently towards Grace. Ashley jerked back away from the cat as it passed near her.

As it passed her, Susan realized with a start that she recognized the cat. “Princess? Is that you?”

The cat seemed to respond to its name, because it turned away from Grace and turned its face up toward Susan, still yowling silently.

“That’s Princess?” Sarah asked.

“Princess?” asked Nanase. “You know this ghost—er, cat?”

Susan crouched down to get closer to the faint figure. Yes, it had that distinctive diagonal slash of white across its face. “Yeah,” she said. “She was Mrs. Gilfillan’s cat. Our next door neighbor.”

“Was?” asked Elliot.

“She died last summer. The cat, that is, not Mrs. Gilfillan.”

“Poor kitty,” said Grace, looking stricken.

“She was sixteen. It wasn't exactly a premature death,” Susan reassured her.

“Still…” Grace tried to pet the phantom cat, but her hand passed right through it.

“So why is the ghost of your neighbor’s cat haunting your basement?” Tedd asked.

The cat stood up on her hind legs and rested her fore paws on Susan's knee. Apparently, even though Grace couldn't touch her, she could touch them, if she wanted to. Susan wondered if the faint chill she felt where her paws rested was real or psychosomatic. “She looks frantic,” she observed. “Do you want something, Princess?” she asked, feeling slightly silly as she did so.

“Are we supposed to help her cross the rainbow bridge or something?” asked Ellen.

The cat stared intently into Susan's eyes for a long moment, then she dropped back down to the floor. She turned and walked down the hall toward the pool room, pausing to look back over her shoulder and silently meow.

“I think…she wants you to follow her?” said Tedd.

“Oh, no,” said Susan. “I've watched too many horror films to follow a ghost through a blizzard and a blackout.”

“But she's really upset,” said Grace. “Her body language isn't hostile, it's worried.”

“Can you understand what she’s saying?” asked Sarah.

Grace shook her head. “I can’t hear anything from her. Just her body language.”

Susan grimaced. Tedd put in, “I'd trust Grace's read of animal body language. It can't hurt to follow her for a while, see if we can figure out why she's here.”

“I'll go with you,” said Elliot, and when Susan looked at him, his form shimmered and shrank, transforming into Cheerleadra.

“You don't even know if your invulnerability extends to ghosts,” Susan protested.

Elliot laughed. “I'm willing to risk it.”

“ _I'm_ going,” said Grace firmly. But Susan noticed that she, too, transformed from her natural furry form to her more powerful Shade Tail form. Susan was pleased that just because Grace trusted the ghost cat, it didn’t mean she was going to be stupid about it.

“I’ll go too,” said Nanase.

Susan sighed. Well, at least with the three most powerful people in their group by her side, she probably didn’t have _too_ much to fear. “Oh, very well. But if she changes into Yog Soggoth and eats us all, I'm blaming you.” She picked up a candle and followed the cat down the hall.

Looking back, Susan saw that everyone was following her and Princess. “Seriously?” she grumbled. “Have none of you learned _anything_ from watching _Poltergeist?”_

“Come on, Susan, it’s just a cat,” protested Justin.

“A _ghost_ of a cat,” she countered. “Doesn’t that freak you out at all?”

He shrugged. “Eh. We’ve seen weirder.”

“Well, it freaks _me_ out,” said Ashley, sounding nervous. “But I’m not going to remain behind, alone in the dark, while everyone else goes chasing after it.”

“Commendably wise,” said Kevin, who Ashley was using for light.

“That’s the first sensible thing anyone has said,” Susan agreed. Ashley brightened at that.

Perhaps inevitably, the cat lead them to the pool room and walked through the glass doors and outside. When no one immediately followed her, she turned around and stared at them through the glass, meowing.

“And I just got warm,” sighed Tedd.

“All right, everyone, gear up,” said Ellen, backtracking to the sauna to retrieve her coat and shoes. Everyone except Grace and Elliot followed and did likewise.

While everyone was pulling on coats and shoes, Princess paced back and forth through the glass door, still silently yowling at them. “Close the door to the hall,” Susan said, before sliding open the door. “Let’s keep as much heat in the house as possible.” Justin complied, and they set forth back into the cold, following the ghost cat.

As soon as they stepped out the door, the candles blew out. With the power out, and the clouds and heavy snowfall swallowing up any moonlight, the yard was dark and foreboding, with just Kevin’s pale glow illuminating the snow. “Hey, Ellen, could you—” Susan began, but before she could finish the request, a bright beam of light came from behind her to illuminate the yard. “Thanks.”

Susan was unsurprised that Princess immediately lead them to the right, toward the Gilfillan’s house. They plodded along after her single-file, shoving through the deep snow, with Elliot, Grace and Nanase floating along beside them.

“She’s not leaving any footprints in the snow,” observed Tedd.

Susan shot him a bemused look. “Well, yeah, she’s a ghost?”

Tedd shrugged. “We’re calling her that. But I have no idea what kind of creature she might actually be. I’ve never heard of ghosts that were full color like that.”

“True,” Susan conceded. “But ghost works for now.”

As they drew closer the Gilfillan’s house, Princess pulled away from them, rushing around the garage. “Hey! Wait up, you stupid cat!” called Ellen.

“Hello? Is someone there?” came a woman’s voice from where the cat had disappeared.

Susan and Elliot exchanged a startled look, then Elliot flew on ahead, closely followed by Grace and Nanase. Susan followed on as quickly as she could.

Rounding the corner of the house, she found Elliot kneeling, apparently oblivious to the snow on her bare legs, next to a woman lying in the snow between the garage and the house. “Mrs. Gilfillan! Are you all right?” asked Susan. Princess was prowling around the woman, no longer silently meowing.

“Oh, hello Susan,” said Mrs. Gilfillan. “I’ve been better. Are you friends with this…young lady?” She flicked a slightly dubious glance at Cheerleadra’s weather-inappropriate attire.

“Yes,” Susan said. “What happened?”

“I slipped and—” Mrs. Gilfillan cut off with a hiss of pain as Elliot tried to help her sit up. “Gently, please, dear, I think I may have broken my collar bone.”

Elliot got a panicked look on her face as she gently set Mrs. Gilfillan back down. _Note to self,_ Susan thought. _Sign Elliot up for a first-aid course ASAP._ Aloud, she said, “Just try not to move your arm, Mrs. Gilfillan. Hold it steady with your other hand. El—Cheerleadra, lift her from the side opposite the break.”

“El Cheerleadra?” said Mrs. Gilfillan dubiously. “You don’t _look_ Hispanic.”

Susan heard several barely suppressed snickers around her, and she bit her lip to keep in her own amusement from showing. Ignoring Mrs. Gilfillan’s comment, she asked, “Can you fly her to the hospital?”

“Ah…” Elliot’s eyes acquired a far-away look for a moment, her eyes flicking from side to side as if looking at an internal map, then she nodded. “Got it. Yeah, I know where it is.”

“ _Fly_ me?” Mrs. Gilfillan asked.

“Yes, Cheerleadra can fly. Surely you’ve heard about her on the news?” Susan asked.

“Well, yes, but I don’t believe everything I hear. That just sounded so…unlikely.” She gave Elliot a closer look. “But if you can get me to a doctor faster, in this weather, that would be appreciated, dear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Elliot, smiling.

“What about Mr. Gilfillan?” asked Susan. “Should we let him know where you’re going?”

“He’s out of town at the moment, which was why I was out here. I’ll call him after we get to the hospital,” Mrs. Gilfillan replied.

“What about windchill?” asked Tedd. “You don’t want to add frostbite and hypothermia to Mrs. Gillian’s problems.”

“Gilfillan,” Susan corrected absently. “Good point.” Mrs. Gilfillan was wearing a coat and boots, but no gloves or hat.

“Here,” said Justin. “Once El Cheerleadra picks her up, wrap her in my jacket.” He took off his coat and held it out.

“But you’ll freeze!” protested Sarah.

Justin shook his head. “Nah. It’s not that cold, and it’s not windy. I’ll be fine until we get back to Susan’s house.” Or maybe, Susan thought, after playing around in the snow naked, being in jeans and a t-shirt felt like clothing enough.

Then Grace, who had been lurking in the background, out of sight of Mrs. Gilfillan, wrapped her furry arms around Justin from behind and hugged him close for warmth. He twitched a little in surprise, then murmured, “Thanks.”

Susan and Nanase helped Elliot carefully pick up Mrs. Gilfillan, and they wrapped Justin’s coat around her. “Ready to fly?” Elliot asked with a grin.

Mrs. Gilfillan took a deep breath, and nodded. “I’m not sure I really believe it, but, yes.”

Elliot took off slowly, so as not to jar her arm or generate too much wind chill. Susan heard Mrs. Gilfillan’s startled gasp of, “Oh, my!” as they flew away.

Once they were gone, she glanced down at the spectral cat. “Well, Princess, mission accomplished.” The cat just looked back at her briefly, then turned and started walking back toward Susan’s house.

“Smart cat. Let’s get back inside,” said Ellen.

Once back inside, they all stripped off their coats and shoes again, and returned to the now slightly cooler TV room.

“So much for dry pants,” said Sarah mournfully.

“I’ve got some sweat pants and pajama pants you all can borrow,” Susan said.

Justin peeled off his wet jeans, and sighed. “I guess I’ll be taking you up on that offer after all, Tedd. I don’t think I’ll survive the night in just a t-shirt and boxers.”

“Ditto,” said Ellen with a grin, puffing out her chest. “Don’t want to stretch Susan’s sweaters all out of shape.” Susan glowered at her busty friend, who just smiled unrepentantly back at her.

Nanase, who had floated above the snow instead of wading through it, was still mostly dry. And Grace’s fur seemed to shed snow and moisture quite nicely.

Susan looked around and found Princess. The ghost cat was sitting on the top of the couch, grooming herself. Susan shrugged, and headed upstairs to retrieve additional clothing. By the time she returned with an assortment of pants and warm socks, the candles had been re-lit. Tedd had transformed Justin and Ellen. Ellen was still basically herself, just slightly taller with a smaller bust, but Justin…well, Ellen had been correct, Susan had to admit. Female Justin _was_ incredibly cute.

Justin snatched the proffered sweat pants and pulled them on, hiding her long shapely legs. Justin’s muscular physique apparently carried over to her female form. “Thanks,” she muttered, blushing a charming shade of pink. Ashley, Tedd, and Sarah also took advantage of the offer of dry pants and socks.

Everyone settled back down under the blankets. Susan kept herself a little apart from the “cuddle pile” that was forming in the middle of the room, choosing to lean back against the couch as she sat on the floor, though her legs were under a blanket shared with Sarah.

Princess jumped down off the back of the couch and landed beside her, startling her, then the spectral cat climbed into her lap and curled up. Susan couldn’t feel any weight on her lap, but if she closed her eyes, there was a definite _presence_ of some sort there. She reached down and tried to stroke the cat, and was surprised to find that she could feel her. Princess’ fur was cold and faint, like petting non-sticky spider webs, but definitely there. The cat looked up at her approvingly before closing its eyes. Susan felt a faint vibration through her hand, an inaudible purr.

“It’s funny,” she said, as she continued to pet the ghost. “Princess was almost as old as I was. I can’t recall a time when she didn’t live next door to me. She used to come over and hang out in our yard, pestering me to pet her. Since my father…” she paused, and took a breath. “Since my father is allergic to almost all animals, Princess was the closest I ever got to having a pet.” She smiled down into her lap. “The Gilfillans had three boys, all older than me. I think Princess came over here to escape the noise and insanity sometimes.”

“I remember the day she brought you a dead mouse as a gift,” Sarah said.

Susan laughed. “Oh, yeah.”

“What happened?” asked Justin.

“We were laying in the sun by the pool, then suddenly this wet, furry corpse gets dropped by my head.” Susan shuddered a little at the memory, even as she was smiling at it.

“I think she was offended that you screamed,” Sarah said with a grin.

“Silly humans, not appreciating a good meal when it’s offered to them,” Grace laughed.

Susan snorted. “I _definitely_ didn’t eat it. For a couple of weeks after that she turned her back on me whenever she saw me.” She scratched Princess behind her ears. “She still wanted me to pet her, however.”

Susan’s attention was drawn by the sound of the pool room door opening. She looked toward the hallway to the pool, to see Elliot, back in his normal form, walk into the room.

“That was quick,” said Nanase.

Elliot shrugged. “The emergency room wasn’t very busy. I guess almost no one can make it to the hospital in this weather. Once they rolled her into the back, I left. It wasn’t as if I could fill out paperwork for her.”

“Do you think she’s okay?” askedAshely.

“She seemed fine, aside from the broken collar bone.”

“Do you know why she was out in the snow?” asked Ellen.

“She said she was going to the garage to get some firewood for the fireplace, and she slipped,” Elliot said. “With her broken collar bone, she couldn’t push herself up out of the snowdrift she was stuck in.”

“Well, I’m glad you got her there,” Susan said. “Thank you.”

“It’s a good thing Princess lead us to her,” said Grace. “Well done, kitty.”

Princess lifted her head and looked at Grace. She rubbed her head against Susan’s palm, then stood up and jumped out of her lap onto the floor. She looked up at Susan and blinked once, slowly, then turned her back on the group. She crouched down, as if she were going to leap onto something in front of her, but there was nothing there for her to land on.

Then Princess leapt up, but she didn’t land on anything, or come down. Instead, she kept going up, her paws extended in front of her, and it looked like she disappeared into the distance, somehow traveling far beyond the limits of the ceiling. With a brief chromatic sparkle, she vanished.

The room was stunned silent for a long moment, then Ellen said, “Huh. I guess there really _is_ a rainbow bridge after all.”

Susan continued to stare at the spot on the ceiling where Princess had disappeared. She was surprised to find she had a lump in her throat. She’d been a little saddened when she’d heard that Princess had died last summer, but she hadn’t been moved to tears. Now, though, it was like losing her all over, and this time she was a witness to her passing.

“She must have really loved Mrs. Gilfillan,” said Sarah softly. Susan looked down from the ceiling to see that Sarah had moved in close next to her, within hugging distance but not yet touching her.

“And she must have really trusted you, to come to you for help,” added Grace.

Susan nodded, and wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. Sarah leaned toward her, an unspoken question on her face. Susan hesitated, then nodded. Sarah smiled, and wrapped her arms around Susan, pulling her close. Susan reciprocated, and was only a little startled to find Grace hugging the two of them from the other side. She tensed momentarily, then sighed and relaxed into their combined embrace.

“You never did get a chance to finish your charade,” Ashley said, in an apparent effort to lighten the mood.

Susan snorted. “I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

Everyone snuggled in closer to each other, and Susan allowed herself to be pulled into the group, sandwiched between Sarah and Grace. The effects of the long day began to make themselves felt to Susan, and she closed her eyes, just listening to the sounds of her friends quietly chatting around her.

It had been a long day. Driving through the blizzard had been exhausting, but at least it was relatively normal. But dancing naked in the snow with all her friends _definitely_ fell outside of the range of “normal.” And then there was the power outage. And then Princess. Saving Mrs. Gilfillan, via a weird moment of connection with the afterlife. The feline afterlife, anyway, but contemplating what that implied for humans would have to wait for another day. When she was less exhausted.

And now, perhaps most improbably of all, she was cuddled up between Sarah and Grace, and not fleeing screaming from the room. Instead, she sighed deeply and pulled Sarah closer. She wasn’t sure if she imagined the gentle purr of a cat as she drifted off to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
